Winnipeg’s LOCAL Inclusion Summit #OurSummitWPG

On September 17th and 18th, 2015, Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman will be hosting the “Mayors National Summit on Racial Inclusion”. This is a good idea. Earlier this year, Macleans magazine wrote an article “Welcome to Winnipeg, where Canada’s racism problem is at its worst”. This article was written based on the experience that Indigenous people in this city face. The mayors racial inclusion summit is being done to repair the cities image. Rightfully so.

I have had the opportunity to engage with many people since the announcement of the mayors summit, and the overall feeling of the community is that the summit is merely political lip service. There is questions as to why there is a $50 fee, why it is being held at the Canadian museum for human rights- where the conversation of the Indigenous genocide is not taken seriously enough; why there was no consultation with people in…